to find a light in the darkness
by thxndergirl
Summary: Henry's voice came in. "Ray," he said, voice low and dangerously quiet, "He released the virus already. We-We're too late." / A post-apocalypse AU.


**here it is, finally, the zombie apocalypse au i've been sitting on for ages. i was going to make this a short one shot, maybe a couple thousand words max, but then i ended up sitting there with over 3k and on a sunday night with school the next day and still a long way to go so i decided to post what i have, because otherwise i don't know when i'll finish. and i was really excited to get this out there. so i'm sorry about the cliffhanger, but if all goes well this will just be part 1 and i'll update as soon as i have time–which might not be for a while, but i'll do my best. this isn't quite as angsty as i hoped it would come out but it's still fairly dark, and hopefully the next chapter will be a little more of the emotional turmoil. anyway, i really really hope you guys enjoy this, and i'll stop talking now so you can get to the fic.**

**oh, and uh this is rated high T for violence, lots of swearing, blood, injury, and an overall dark theme. trigger warning for a very brief, non-explicit but still present suicide mention.**

**sidenote: i had to watch a video about how to change a tire for this fic**

* * *

"Jackpot." There's a soft click of the lock and then Henry is grinning, brushing dusty-gold strands of hair out of his eyes and handing her a bottle from the gently humming fridge.

Beads of condensation run like sweat down the side of it. There's a small, rational part of Charlotte's brain that tells her to savor the Coke, ration it like they'd been doing with everything else, but she tells that part of her brain to fuck itself and chugs down half the bottle. It's the first cold drink she's had in ages, sweet and fizzy, and it almost pulls her back to movie nights in the Man Cave and barbecues with the Hart family. She stops drinking for a moment to shove those memories to the back of her mind.

"Check this out," Jasper says, and pulls another bottle from the fridge, showing them the label. "_Share a Coke with Henry," _he reads, and gives a short sort of laugh as he unscrews the top and bumps the drink gently against Henry's, then hers. His smile doesn't quite reach his eyes, but then again, it's been a long time since it has.

Charlotte tries to push past the layer of grime on the floor and the dust particles caught in the beams of sunlight that spill through the cracked windows to enjoy the moment. Cold sodas in an empty gas station with her best friends beside her, with Ray and Schwoz filling up the gas tank outside and Piper rummaging around in the back of the store. It's quiet, except for the sound of the faint turning of the engine outside, and Charlotte finds herself thinking about how before all of this started, the three of them would've been laughing at some stupid joke, or Henry and Piper would've been bickering, or they would've been taking turns annoying Ray. She knows there's not a lot of use in dwelling on the before, but it's hard not to.

"C'mon, losers," Piper comes around the aisle, halfway through a king-sized Hershey's bar. "Let's ditch this place."

Henry, Jasper, and Charlotte shove as many cold drinks as they can into their tiny cooler and start filling grocery bags with toilet paper and energy bars and Frittles cans and packages of gummy worms.

"Man, this place is a gold mine," Henry says as he shoves a few Starburst into his pocket. It's kind of funny that their definition of gold has boiled down to gas station junk food. It's kind of fucked up, actually.

They start to load the back of the van with all the food they have room for, because this is the first unraided store they've come across for miles and they don't know when they'll find another.

"We should just stay here," Jasper says, squinting in the sunlight as he closes the door. "A ton of food, supplies, and they even have power inside. Air conditioning."

Ray gives a heavy sort of sigh. "Sorry, kiddo, no dice. We gotta keep moving."

And Jasper's face falls, but they know he's right. If they stop moving, they're sitting ducks for the Infected and for raiders and whoever else might be prowling around the Arizona deserts.

So they get in the car, and Schwoz and Ray tousle over the wheel for a moment and Piper elbows Henry for getting in her space, and then they drive.

They just drive.

* * *

It started seventeen months ago. Seventeen months, twelve days, and nine hours to the dot, but Charlotte pretends she isn't counting.

The villain wasn't like the others they had faced. He didn't wear sparkly pants or give himself a ridiculous monicker, he was just insane. And a genius. And that made him dangerous–after all, the only time that combination had ever worked out well was on Schwoz.

She remembers the feeling in her chest before Henry and Ray left to take him on. She remembers _knowing_ that something was going to happen, knowing, somehow, that this was all going to go south. Henry had told her not to worry. She did, anyway.

She heard the whole thing go down over the comm sets. The villain went on and on about humanity being a plague on the planet, about how he was just trying to get rid of the disease. He raved like a madman, and then she heard the _thwack _of Ray's fist and the sound of the man dropping like a stone and she thought it was over.

Until Henry's voice came in. "Ray," he said, voice low and dangerously quiet. "He released the virus already."

"What?"

"We-we're too late."

And seventeen months, twelve days, and four hours ago, the reports started coming in. People started getting sick; not sick like fevers and headaches but sick like throwing up black goo and screaming themselves hoarse from the pain and tearing their skin open with their own nails. Sick like dying within a matter of days–and those were the lucky ones.

The ones who weren't? They started sprouting fangs and claws. Started losing their hair, losing the whites of their eyes, losing their minds. The disease turned humans into monsters that tore other people to shreds, multiplied with bites, and seemed to have come straight off of the screen of a horror movie.

It only took about a month for over half the population to become infected.

That became the name for them–the Infected. It's shallow, Charlotte thinks, and does absolutely no justice to the terror she felt when she first saw those _things _roaming the streets of Swellview. _Infected _is what you call someone who gets the flu or Yellow fever. These were _people _turned into _monsters._

They stayed in Swellview for the first few months. Schwoz holed himself up in his lab, mixing chemicals and testing blood samples and trying to find a cure. Then Charlotte's parents had disappeared. Then Jasper's had up and left, with only a note to suggest they'd ever been there to begin with. Then Henry–then Henry had watched his mom turn into one of those monsters and watched his dad shoot himself in the head to keep from doing the same.

The city was overrun, and so they packed the Man Van and they left.

They just drove.

* * *

They're still driving now.

The van is hot, enough that Charlotte's shirt is sticky with sweat and the rolled-down windows only succeed in providing more noise than cool air. They don't turn the AC on for the sake of preserving as much fuel as they can, but she's starting to wonder if it's worth it.

As he drives, Ray regales them with tales from his early days as Captain Man. They've heard this one before, and it's obvious he's tacking on as much dramatic flair as possible–Schwoz's interjections of "that's not what happened!" are a dead giveaway–but it gets them to start ribbing him, even Piper, who still sees him as her hero. Pretty soon they're all laughing, passing around a pack of Lifesaver gummies, and it's one of those rare golden moments that Charlotte lives for.

And then there's a bang like a gunshot, and the van jerks and screeches as it spins off the road.

Everyone's screaming. Ray yells and swears, gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles go white and slamming the brakes right before they jerk to a stop.

"What just happened?" Henry says shakily.

Ray grits his teeth. "I think a tire blew out."

"What? How–" Charlotte doesn't get a chance to finish her question. There's a rumbling of engines and a clamor of voices outside, and she looks out the windows to see several men pulling up dirt bikes in a circle around them. Raiders.

One of them steps off his bike, dust puffing up from his heels as he struts to the window, a gun raised in his hands. Charlotte sees Henry tense and grab Piper's hand beside her, and for once, the younger girl doesn't pull away.

"Hey, big man," the man says to Ray, voice cold and even. "Step outta the car. Hand over your supplies."

Ray turns and gives them all a reassuring look before he opens the door and raises his hands. Almost instantly, there are four guns trained on him. "Alright, okay, take it easy," he says, and his tone is light enough to make it clear that he's not worried at all. Really, if anyone should be worried, it's the Raiders, but they haven't figured that out yet. "You know, you guys really didn't have to blow out our tire. I mean, I would've offered you some Frittles if you'd asked but," he gives a short laugh, "that was just rude."

"You think this is a fucking game?" The one closest to Ray cocks his gun.

"I don't, actually. 'Cause playtime's over." Ray's fist collides with his head, and he crumples like paper. Gunshots ring through the air as the others open fire on him, but the bullets just pepper holes in his shirt and ricochet off his chest.

"Oh my god–holy shit, he's invincible…it-it's Captain Man!"

Ray snorts. "Used to be, yeah," he says before knocking one of them clear off his feet.

The remaining men turn tail and scatter like a pack of rats, leaving nothing but dust clouds in their wake as they jump on their motorbikes and drive away. Ray stands there for a moment, chest heaving as he wipes the sweat from his brow, and then he turns around to look at them. "Everyone okay?"

They nod. "Nice line," Henry tells him, and Ray looks smug.

"Alright, get out here and help me put on the spare."

They stand in the sweltering heat for a while, watching as Ray shows them the proper way to change a tire and Schwoz points out everything he's doing wrong. He lets them take turns trying to loosen the lug nuts, and Piper manages to unscrew hers the farthest, reminding Charlotte yet again of why she's terrified of her.

"Done," Ray says with finality as he screws the hubcap back on and huffs. He lowers the car jack and pulls it out from underneath, standing up and leaning against the van. "The spare isn't gonna get us very far on these roads, though. We're gonna have to find an auto shop."

"Where the fuck are we going to find an auto shop out here?" Piper furrows her brow, and Henry nudges her with his elbow.

"Language," he says, sounding eerily like his mother.

She swats at him. "What are you, Captain America?" She sticks her tongue out, and he grins and ruffles her hair despite her protests.

"I guess we'll just drive until we find one," Ray shrugs a little. "We should probably get going. It'll be dark soon."

Charlotte looks out to where the sun is sinking in the sky, turning the hills of sand and rock golden beneath it. It's the kind of picture you'd see on a postcard from Arizona, and even with the threat of death and worse looming constantly overhead, she can still find it in herself to admire the beauty of it. Maybe even more than she would've before.

Henry catches her staring. His hair is made a brighter gold by the rays of the sunset, and he gives her a half-smile with the same kind of warmth as he laces his fingers through hers. "C'mon, Char," he says, and she follows him back into the van, her eyes still watching the sun as they drive away.

* * *

It's long past nightfall by the time they stop. The air is much cooler now, the sky speckled with stars, and Henry is asleep on Jasper's shoulder, his hand still intertwined with hers. Piper is snoring quietly with her head propped against the window, and in sleep the two Hart siblings look peaceful, more alike than usual. Jasper seems to be thinking the same thing, and he gives her a small smile over Henry's blonde head.

The van jerks as they approach a run down sign with peeling letters, the spare tire just about ready to give out. Luckily, the garage door of the auto shop is already open, and they manage to pull inside.

"Thank god," Charlotte mutters quietly. She doesn't want to think about what might've happened if they'd broken down in the middle of the road at night, with hardly anything to shelter themselves against the Infected.

"Okay, everyone out," Ray says, shutting off the ignition and pocketing the keys. He bumps Schwoz, who wakes up with a start, and Henry's eyes flutter open while Charlotte gently shakes Piper's shoulder. They pile out of the car as Ray goes to get the tools from the trunk.

"Schwoz, fix the van." He shoves the toolbox into Schwoz's hand with a yawn.

Schwoz looks affronted. "Why should I have to do it?"

"Because I'm tired, alright? I just drove for like _ten hours_."

"I told you I could drive–"

"You drive like a blind person."

"That is just rude. And you know I cannot loosen the lug nuts–"

As they bicker, Henry blinks the sleep from his eyes and stares out of the open garage door. Shock cuts across his features, and as Charlotte turns to see what he's looking at, her heart crawls into her throat.

"Guys," Henry says, voice rising as he slaps his hand against Ray's arm. "Guys, we have a bit of a situation."

"Not now, kid, the adults are talking."

"_Ray!"_

"What, Henry–" Ray looks out the door and stops. In the distance, the shadows seem to be moving towards them. Hulking black figures, not quite human, just silhouettes in the dim light of the moon. But Charlotte doesn't have to see them to know what they look like. The image of them is burned into the back of her mind, engraved behind her eyelids and the subject of her nightmares. She feels her blood run cold.

Her eyes dart around. They land on a pair of buttons by the entrance, and she points a shaky hand at them. "The door," she says hastily. "Close the door."

Ray runs over to them. He presses the button once, twice, three times, and nothing happens. He slams it over and over, and the door creaks and groans softly but doesn't shut.

"Shit," she hears Henry swear under his breath.

The monsters are moving faster now. They're close enough that Charlotte can see the reflection of the moonlight in their void-black eyes, can see the glistening of their teeth in the dark. There's a whole pack of them, outnumbering their group, and they're wicked fast and stronger than should be possible.

"Get in the office," Ray says, pointing them to the tiny side room with the peeling blue door. "Hide. I'll hold them off."

"By yourself? No way–" Henry starts to say, but Ray gives him a tiny shove towards the office.

"This isn't up for debate, Kid. Go. I'll be fine, I'm indestructible, remember?" There's a soft sort of twinkle in his eyes and he nudges Henry again, casting a glance at the shadows that are almost at the door. "Just go!"

Charlotte can see the struggle behind Henry's eyes. She can feel it, too, that same struggle in her chest, but she's less of a self-sacrificing idiot than he is so she grabs his hand and pulls him into the office behind her and shuts the door.

Her heart is pounding. She can hear the soft chittering and hissing of the Infected; they're already here, and she stands there with her back pressed against the door for a moment before Schwoz motions for her and Henry to join him, Piper, and Jasper behind the desk.

Charlotte sits down on the dust-covered floor and listens.

There's a sound of scuffling outside. The hissing gets louder, then, Ray's yell, like a battle cry. Screeching. More yelling.

She shouldn't look. She _knows _she shouldn't look; they're supposed to be hiding, but Piper pokes her head up to stare out the cracked glass of the window and she can't stop herself. Ray is attacking the monsters with nothing but his bare hands and a hammer from his toolbox, and for the first few minutes, it seems like he's winning. Their claws rake harmlessly off of him, their fangs not breaking his skin, and though his shirt is in tatters he takes them out one by one without a single scratch on him.

But then they just keep coming. Charlotte was wrong about them being a pack–they're more like a mass, and they swarm him, knocking the hammer out of his hands, leaping onto his back and tugging at his arms and legs. There's too many of them.

Henry stands up. He opens the desk drawers, rummaging through them, and grabs a wrench from one. As he starts towards the door, Jasper grabs his arm. "Hen," he says. "You can't go out there."

Henry's jaw is set. "I have to. There's way too many of them out there, Ray can't take them all alone."

"_Ray's _indestructible. You aren't."

"I know that," Henry says sharply, and bites his lip. "Look, if I don't go out there, they–they're gonna drag him off, or they'll overwhelm him, and then they'll break the windows or bust through the door and they'll kill us anyway. I'm _going." _He pauses, his eyes blazing. "I may not be Kid Danger anymore, but I'm not leaving Ray to fight alone."

And slowly, Jasper gives the tiniest of nods and lets go of his arm. When Henry gets like this, fire behind his gaze and voice hard and stubborn, there's no stopping him. They know that.

He tries to close the door behind him. But Charlotte grabs it before he can, a stapler in her other hand and the blood pounding in her ears. "I'm coming too," she says, with no room for protest. There's no stopping her, either. And he knows that.

The two of them leave the office, armed with a wrench and a stapler, ready to face the monsters from their nightmares together.

* * *

The fight is unlike anything Charlotte could've imagined. Ray is surprised to see them, if his yell when Henry knocks the Infected clean off his back is anything to go by, but there's no time for him to lecture them as the monsters swarm the trio. Charlotte and Henry stand back to back, hacking their way through the fray.

Black blood sprays her face and clothing. All she can see is white fangs, soulless eyes, grotesque skin pulled over veins and bones. Claws swipe at her and she pushes them back, the sound of screeching and hissing and yelling filling her ears. At some point, Jasper and Piper and Schwoz join them, and there are no words exchanged between them, just blows towards the Infected. They fight and fight and fight, and more keep coming, and they just keep fighting.

When the world is ending, every day could be your last. Charlotte has prepared herself to fight for her life, has prepared herself to go down swinging. But in that moment she finds that preparing for something and doing it are very, very different things. She's not ready to die yet.

"Char, look out!" Then Henry shoves her, and she stumbles, and before she register his yell that sounds like _pain _one of the Infected is lunging at her. She slams her stapler into its skull and it shrieks, dropping to the ground.

And then everything stops. Charlotte stands there for a moment, chest heaving, waiting for more to come at her. They don't. She looks around. The six of them stand in the carnage, black bodies lying on the floor around them, and it's over. It's finally over.

Henry gives a breathy sort of laugh. "I-Is everyone okay?" he says, and Charlotte looks at him. He's splattered with black blood, and there's a shallow scrape on his cheek, but he smiles in relief.

Then–"Kid…" Ray's voice is choked and tight, anguished, and Charlotte follows his eyes. Her heart drops like a stone.

"What–" Henry blinks, confused, and lifts a hand to touch his side. His fingers come away soaked in black blood.

His eyes widen. "Fuck," he breathes quietly, and then his knees buckle beneath him.

* * *

**stay tuned. love, umana.**


End file.
